And You Thought Education Was Bad Now

Just wait until Obama gets control of it!  I know, the government pretty much runs it now, but an open and friendly doorway into public schools is still very different than outright control.  And that's what he's going for (emphasis mine):

This week the House is scheduled to approve H.R. 3221, an education lending bill that CBO reports will increase the deficit by $50 billion. The bill includes a little-known provision to give the Secretary of Education $500 million - to be provided to to any entity he deems "appropriate" - to develop and disseminate free and "freely available" online courses.

This is unprecedented.

Federal curriculum is contrary to longstanding government policy - and it's unnecessary. For decades, Federal law has prohibited the U.S. Department of Education from exercising control over the "curriculum, program of instruction . . . or over the selection or content of library resources, text books, or other educational materials by any educational institution or school system."

Now the Obama Administration and Congress are poised to provide the Secretary of the Education half a billion dollars, and give him the authority to enter into contracts with any entity he deems "appropriate" to "develop, evaluate and disseminate" "freely available" "education courses."

Why?

This provision comes under 'open online education' in the bill. But if the only goal is to expand online education, why not encourage states and districts to do that? They are already in the business of creating course curriculum. Why break decades (actually, centuries) of precedent, and allow the federal government to design course curriculum for the first time? And lastly, why give that authority with no guidelines whatsoever as to what groups qualify for the money?

Answer: as with everything about this President (and all liberals, really), it's all about control.

And, to make it even better, you as a taxpayer will fund his takeover (emphasis mine):

The furor over President Obama's trillion-dollar restructuring of American health care has left his other trillion-dollar plan starved for attention. That's how much the federal balance sheet will expand over the next decade if Mr. Obama can convince Congress to approve his pending takeover of the student-loan market.

The Obama plan calls for the U.S. Department of Education to move from its current 20% share of the student-loan origination market to 80% on July 1, 2010, when private lenders will be barred from making government-guaranteed loans. The remaining 20% of the market that is now completely private will likely shrink further as lenders try to comply with regulations Congress created last year. Starting next summer, taxpayers will have to put up roughly $100 billion per year to lend to students.

Hit the article for all the details.  Here's their conclusion:

All of this is certain to pass the House, and the only chance for stopping it is in the Senate. If it passes, parents will soon have no choice beyond a Washington bureaucracy to borrow money for their college-bound children, and taxpayers will pay a fortune for the privilege.

ObamaYouth, here we come!

There's my two cents.